Sumbal flood victims stage protest in Srinagar over delay in relief

Srinagar: Scores of inhabitants of north Kashmir’s Bandipora district on Saturday staged a demonstration at Press Enclave here, against the “failure” of authorities to provide them relief, as promised.

The protestors, hailing from Sumbal area of the district, raised anti-government slogans and accused the PDP-BJP coalition of being “non-seriousness” towards rehabilitation of flood victims.

“Everything was good during Governor’s rule. All of the sudden the things went worse after present regime assumed office,” they alleged.

They said that they have been provided cheques worth Rs 3800 during Omar-led government in 2014.

“Since then, we have not received any rehabilitation package. We have read in newspapers many times that Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti has directed authorities to clear the cases of left-out flood victims,” they said, adding, “We fail to understand whether CM has not directed them seriously or authorities are not taking her directions seriously.”

The protestors said that during Governor’s rule, the rehabilitation cheques were disbursed within week’s time. “However, there were some left out cases. As the present regime took oath to office, all these cases are still pending,” they said.

They threatened to intensify protests in case the authorities failed to disburse amounts within week to their bank accounts.

Various localities in Srinagar, which are yet to receive rehabilitation amounts include Shivpora, Dalgate, Chanapora, Basant Bagh and others. These aggrieved left out victims have also staged protest demonstrations several times to press for their demand.

Soon after receding of flood waters, the then Omar Abdullah led government had released Rs 75,000 each in favour of those whose houses were completely damaged while owners of severely and partially damaged houses received Rs 12500 and Rs 3800 respectively.

The process was also expedited by the civil administrations as the then Chief Minister Omar Abdullah had ‘warned’ deputy commissioners to release payments to flood victims without any delay or pack their bags.

Later, the then Mufti-led government announced release of second installment for the rehabilitation of flood victims. This amount was to be disbursed from Prime Minister’s National relief Fund (PMNRF). However, large number of flood victims is yet to receive their due amount from PMNRF till date while the government of India had also released final (third) installment for the rehabilitation of flood victims.